Proposing Areas for Southeast Regional Workplace

by Dennis Crouch

The USPTO started establishing satellite tv for pc workplaces a decade in the past to broaden past the standard Alexandria (Washington DC) headquarters.  We now have workplaces in Detroit, Dallas, Denver, and San Jose. Final yr, Congress voted to additional broaden the decentralization by a minimum of another. The Unleashing American Innovators Act of 2022 (UAIA) mandates creation of a Southeast Regional Workplace (SERO).  The USPTO is now searching for feedback on the place the workplace must be positioned — and the methodology it ought to use in deciding on a location.  [Fed Reg].

The statute requires that it’s positioned in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, or Arkansas.  I might routinely rule-out Virginia and North Carolina as too near the PTO HQ; and likewise rule-out Arkansas as too near the Dallas Workplace.  In my thoughts, I shortly narrowed issues all the way down to 4 potential cities: Atlanta, Jacksonville, Miami, and Nashville.

In my feedback to the PTO, I will probably be together with the outcomes of this ballot: LinkedIn Poll.  Voting is open for a number of extra days.  Atlanta is presently within the lead.

The core goal right here is to is to ship higher companies to residents and inventors within the area; be extra attentive to their wants; and drive optimistic adjustments in these areas.  Concurrently, the Group Outreach Workplace goals to offer a platform for dialogue, bridging the hole between residents and the federal government. The statute units out 5 specific issues:

1. Strengthen connections between the Workplace and patent filers by enhanced outreach to a broad spectrum of innovators together with underrepresented, rural, low-income, and scholar populations.
2. Enhance retention of numerous patent examiners and judges, making an allowance for financial, geographic, and demographic elements.
3. Improve the recruitment course of to draw extra high-quality patent examiners.
4. Cut back the backlog of pending patent functions.
5. Elevate the requirements of patent examination to make sure better accuracy and high quality.

Along with the brand new Southeast Regional Workplace, the PTO has additionally been tasked with opening a “Northern New England Group Outreach Workplace (NNECOO)” and the PTO is searching for feedback on its location as properly.  The USPTO will probably be even be conducting a research to establish whether or not extra regional workplaces would profit US innovation.